Bedbugs force firehouse staff to sleep in trucks

(WASHINGTONTIMES) — A bedbug infestation at a Northwest Washington fire station left firefighters sleeping in their personal vehicles or in the firetrucks to avoid being bitten by the bugs in their bunkrooms, a report on the conditions at D.C. firehouses found.

The 180-page report by the Office of the Inspector General details a wide swath of problematic conditions at D.C. fire stations across the city, including a lack of working smoke detectors, leaking roofs, flooded basements, rodent infestations and inoperable heating or cooling systems. Among the findings, 19 stations had significant rodent problems with one reporting that dead mice had been found in a refrigerator, seven did not have functional heating systems in living quarters, 27 did not have fire extinguishers, and 22 reported that the monitor that displays call information either was not working or was unreliable.

Complicating matters is the fact that the department has no formal policy for reporting and overseeing repairs.